Typical drum brake parking actuating mechanisms used on automobiles for many years (and still being used) have required that a parking brake cable of a parking brake assembly be inserted by an assembler through a backing plate opening and positioned in approximate relation to an engagement point or engagement surface of a parking brake actuating lever. The lever is pivotally mounted on one of the brake shoe assemblies. The assembler has to maneuver the end of the parking brake cable and/or the parking brake actuating lever to make the connection. This therefore requires that such an assembly be done with the brake's drum being off for the remainder of the brake assembly so that visual and manipulative capabilities are present to complete the assembly. A typical example of such a connection requiring this type of assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,064,767 entitled "Brake Actuator" and issued Nov. 20, 1962.
In response to the difficulty and inconvenience of so assembling the cable to the lever, methods of doing blind assembly have been developed wherein the cable is assembled to the lever with the drum in place. A common method of blind assembly is to use a return spring for the parking brake actuating lever to guide the cable from the opening in the backing plate to the engagement surface of the parking brake actuating lever. This is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,146 which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
A first end of the cable has a button on it of substantially larger diameter than the cable. The first end of the cable is inserted by the assembler through the opening in the backing plate. The first end enters the return spring which is aligned with the opening in the backing plate. The spring guides the button to the engagement surface on the lever. The assembler must estimate when the cable has been fully inserted, then pull outwardly on the cable to confirm engagement of the cable with the lever.